The San Francisco Call. Newspaper, May 2, 1897, Page 23

THE SAN FRANCISCO CALL, SUNDAY, 2, MAY 1897. BY. BEATRICE HARRADEN. By Beatrice Harraden. sad & Co. For sale in_thix . Post street, and by e Hotel. Price $1 25. HILDA ° STRAFFOF wY e of lile in the southern | at Miss Beatrice Harra- in her latest book, “Hilda sub-title is *A Califoraia her most ambitious s story occupies but a all pages. In theseshe has ein the selection of which been happy. Herstory is abso- void of cheerful suggestion, and, seen © eyes of her heroine, the life of a ornia is a mi.erable one in- probab rruden n e said that in the later evidence to indicate tha s acquired quite a degree of fon of her first work. ts free from the faults of the of writing fi Its ed and there i3 greater ending, too, be Ships T the & n. ons sre lessstra hough, as confes at Pass in as in Nig is well known gloon that Miss Harraden came 8go in searcu of the main part o ¥, and for that reason 2 and noted life f California. Being n enthusiastic lover of e has slso noted the con- glish colonies, whose supposed to have ) smoke particular.y and golf 80a to De- y attired in straw ers. Here,one would ia several years resided tor y order. But 1 another aud less cheer- Strafford” she relates the sh raucher. Oue Robert jences of farming had the expense of much dis- g of the story is awaiting the old ¢ Iy, be married. Robert is the nner in which she will ew life, and his doubts areamply fied by the course of events. 1 ‘arrives they are married. hree weekselapse before a heavy rain n, und the carefully built reservoir on his to he erectio: his thought and most of his and Robert Strafford is a nthe true character of the d asserts itself. She evinces occupying herself with sh home and the com- re civilized portion of tne giobs he came. T she quite breaks ng to Overieigh, her husband’s and chum, she says: why do people come here? Whet do ! liere (0 Like? What do they get In ex- ge for sl they've losi? Why, In the name of i1 Robert setilein such & piace? W! 2 choose (0 come here? Are you going to your lives? ‘ell me whac it all me-frankly and honestly whether , and whether you wou.d ¢ up to-morrow, 1f ¥ou could.’” you what it all means,” said Ben, &us that IUs & iand and a iife for women. Wemen gain In every 0 :more smail cler<shlps for us; 1o n airiess offices: but out-of- 4nd ovr own lives o ourselves and This fs what 1t all means (o us.” e two views of life on & Califor- two - persons e mau’s view is the more ctory of the two. Hilda ght. She answers re are mone * : desperately.” know, and in a fit of despond- act 1o her husband. He is ng thatall histoil girl out to him, nd upon the house d that, as she ex- an I would rather in my old career than cut my- e throb and pulsation of a fuller ow I wiil turn my face home- d that I had freed myselt uniess you This she cer- s face was ashen. Twice his volce failed him. vn he said quietly: Never fear, Hiida, you shall have your free- e tried to the door and ‘passed noiselessly out the hous hat night Robert Strafford was stricken with & fainting fit, and Hilde's prayer for eed is answered by the death of her band. The book closes with the return of e widow to England From the brief outline here furnished, itwill be seen that Miss Harraden, speaking through Hilda Strafford, has mot much of a favorable nature to say about the advantages that theé postion of the State with which her novel deals holds out to the prospective rancher who hails from 0ld-and densely popu- ted centers,’and who may be accompanied by & wife who has neither famuliarity nor sympathy with the conditions of the more iso- lated Tife of a newland. The great fault she finas appears to be its loneliness and the accompanying longing for a return home ora sitlément in a more densely populated por- tion of the country. Itseemsa pity tnat Miss Harraden should ave been afflicted with & physical ana men- 1al unheslth which' induced her :o depictso glooty a situation as that in which Robert aiid Hilda Strafford found themselves. We must -asseri: opr . belief thut Eouthern california is not, especially in winter, quite so desolate a place as she would ngve. us imagine. - The life on a ranch sy not possésé the attractiveness of resi- ce in the'eity, but it cannot be doubted that. it has; its ‘compensations. In fine, all Californians will find. in this book of Béatrice - Haireden's maiter for re- gret” that any section of our country uld have been exhibjted from the strabis- cview of an invalid, who was evidently not sufficiently familiar with conditions iti general, either in Southern California or in other parts of the Siate, to properly depict its fe, or to select from its features such material | r'anovel as would rightly represent its yleasuresand its advantages, even though they ghit be mingled with the discomforts which | ere always incident to settlement in a new lind. EMANUEL ELZAS. ARTISTIC. URE=—By Adeline Knapp. East “Aurora. New York. The Roycrofi Printing Shop. Migs Adeline Knapp has many pretiy things 10say i this :little volume which is ertistic td & rare.degree even in this day of pretty béoks. The sab-title Is “Some outdoor essa; UPLAND PA. of which its owner | of English birth, | ‘ dealing with the beautiful things thatspring | and summer bring.” The comments on the flowers and woods and showers of spring are very wise and eloquent. Th yle of the work | is an extended treatment of the thought ex- | pressed by Bryant: *To him who, in the love | of nature, holds communion with her visible forms, she speaks a various languege,” and the | author has chosen only to hear nature when | “she has a voice of gladness and a smile, and eloquence and beauty."” | Mingled with the botanical lore of the volume is much moralizing very gracefully done, which leads the mind to find a sacred minis in the flowers, and the talk about the flight of birds i ade to suggest aspirations | to so use the puffeting winds of fortune as to rise higher and swifter on them than could be done inany calm. High praise is due to Eibert Hubbard for the tion of the little book. There 600 copies of this elaborate edition igned and numbered. lovely i are by and each is GOLDSM!TH’S?W[ETHEART. —By F. Frankfort Moore. & Co. For sale in ths Jace Hotel. Price THE JESSAMY BRID Chicago: Herbert Stone City by William Doxey, P 81 50. | The Jessamy Bride was the pet name for the girl belovod by the famous author of the “Vicar of Wakefield,” and the story gains con- | sidersbly in interest by describing to us what | may have been the heart history of this writer, who s so widely admired and liked for the beauty of his literary works and the self-revelation there. Many other famous per- sonages are introduced icto the book with so much skill that we recognize them as life-like | from our literary recollections of these old scquaintances. We meet again with the poo- derons Dr. Samuel Johnson, who thunders his domineering logic at poor old “Goldy” and otuers with self-satisfied rudeness. Sir Joshua Reynolds, the famous painter, is here, and David Garrick and Edmund Burke, and they are made to talk entertainingly and naturally tous from the pages of & pretty Jove story. Part of the book is devoted to a description of an evening spent by all these notable men togethier at the Crown and Anchor tavern in | the Strand, and the conversation represented 10 have taken placc there is quite a work of art. Davia Garrick gets off a bit of impromptu | acting vefore these friends which Joshua Rey- nolds pronounces better than anything he had ever done on'the stage, and in it he manages to administer schoolmaster, Johnson, which will be keenly | appreciataa by all who both admire that man | of immense words for his greatness and good- ness and hate him for his brow-beating rude- ness and sel -opinionativeness. There is » tine description of the strain or anxiety that was put on Goldsmith when his great comed. e Stoops to Conquer,’”’ was being prepared for the stage and the manager and several of the players prophesied that it would prove a flat failure. The taleshows that in addition to the genius to write the play the kind-hearted little Irishman had to [ exercise a great deal of courage, perseverence and self-confidence to push it to final success. The love affair with the sweet Jessamy Bride | is oo pretty to be epitomized, and the book is well worth reading for its clever guess at the romance of Goldsmith’s life. | i s | A FRENCH-CANADIAN STORY. THE POMP OF THE LAVILETTES., By G | “bert Parker, Bosion and New York: Lamson. | Wolffta & Co. For sale In this City by Payot, | Upham & Co. | The great euccess of “The Seatsof the Mighty” ) will make the public willing to try another novel from this clever suthor. This story covers incidents of the rebellion of the French | agoinst English rule in Canada. There are | some unususl characters placed before the | reader with fine brevity of description. One of the principal persons is a nobly born but | | unfortunate man,who is described as having a face without care, without fear, without vice | and without morals. “For,” the euthor in- | forms us, “the absence of vice with the ab- sence of morals are not incongruous in a hu- | man face.” The exceeding ardor of the na- | ture of a little French-Canadian girl, who is | one of the main charactersof the s.ory, is partly reveaied by tnis scrap of solilcquy from her regarding & man who is bankrupt in both | heaith and purse: “What do they know about | love! What would they do forit? I'd have | my fingers chopped off one by one for 1. I'd break every one of the ten commandments for | it. 'd lose mysoul for it. I've got twenty times as much heart as any one of them.” | Here is a bit of moralizing on human nature bat is interesting as coming from one who | has achieved fame in fiction e was lying to him now because—well, because she loved nim. Like the majority of men, when women who love them have lied to them, they have seenin ita compliment as strong as the act was weak. Itwasmore to him now that this girl should love him than that she should be upright, or moral, or trutnful. Such is the egotism and tae vanity of man.” QUEEN OF THE ANTILLES. BA IN Davis. WAR TIME-By Richard Harding ew Yor R. H. Russell. Part of this book was originally published in the form of letters from Cuba to the New York Journal, and some additions have bzen made | which were chiefly suggested by questions put to the correspondent upon his return. The book is well {llustrated by Frederic Rem- ington. The situation of affairs on the un- happy island is very clearly and concisely | given. The commercialism and cruelty of the Spanish officers are described in & way to erouse sympatby for the insurgents. Some of the chapters giving most graphic descriptions are “The Fate of the Pacificos,” *‘Along the Troche,” “The Question of Atrocities” and | lie Death of Rodriguez”” This last is espe- | cially interesting, and if in place of beiug fact | | it had been merely a picce of fietion it is so | vividiy told as 1o be worthy of careful perusal. RAMBLKG T‘ALKS. NA;I"(.‘RIZ 1: A\CIT\' YARD—By Charles M. Skinner. New York: 1] & Skimner k: The Century Company. A book full of rambling writings by a| Brooklyn journalist. They are the fruits of | his leisure time reflections. His field of ob- servation is limited to a city beck yard. The book is very flueat, but seems to have no serious reason for existence. The style, | though rather flippant end commonplace, would have done well enough if the writer hed anything of importance to say, but s scarcely brilliant enough to make his wander- | ing discourses readabl i TOLD IN DIALECT. ND MRS. HANNIBAL HAWKINS—By Greene. New York: American Pub. | rporation. Paper: 5) cents. | A humorous story told in dialect about the | | union of an old maid with au 0ld and very odd | widower. Mrs. Hawkins herself does the tell. | | ing. Before she married, she says, she knew | her intended husband was “odd, terribly odd, and though we'd been keepin’ company for some time, yet I felt morilly sartin it would be agood while longer ’fore I'd know him all | brough.” a deserved rebuke to his old | | graphing From Kite: AN BEATRIGE HARRADEN. MAGAZINES FOR MAY. ATLANTIC MONTHLY. In the May number the Atiantic Monthly | will contain two instructive articles on life in rural New England and the problems present- cd by the rush oi the population togreat cities. Oue of these articles is a study of & re- mote village which has not been reached by modern methods of life. The native charac- teristics, which were not very long ago shared by a large part of the rural population of New England, now seem so remote &s almost 1o be regarded as curlosities. This sympathetic sketeh shows tne life of the village in alliis phases. The otner study is of a farming town which.has indeed kept somewhat apace with modern progress, but still retaius tho features of the old rural life. Its accurate and faithful piciures of tneso country lowns now seem almost like descriptions of another civilization, so far removed are they from the characteristic modern bustle of city life. All the important problems which have risen in the recent shifting of population and changes of industry are 1llustrated in these sketches— the drifting away from theold reiigious faiths, the loss of leadership 1o a certain extent, the decline of local patriotism from its old fervor. Yet there are many attractive features of this life—the leisure that the people have, their good-nature, the companionship and the old-fashioned neigh- borly qualities which they retain. In con- trast with these studfes is a deseription of “Real Utopias in the Arid West,” by William F. Smythe, which gives a description of life in Greeley, Colo., and an explanation of the de- velopment of a rational approach to com- munism in the fruil-growing settiements of Southern Californis. Besides these articles the May Atlantic will contain an explanation of how art may play its proper partin our public schools, by Mre. Earah W. Whitman; an account of Nausen’s heroic journey and his sclentific achievements by Professor N. S. Shaler of Harvard, besides short stories, lit- erary articles and & characteristic paper on the Japanese city of Iznmo by Lafcadio Hearn, THE CENTURY. The Century for May contains a group of three papers dea!ing in an authoritative wey with 8 fresh topic—the scientific use of kites. J. B. Millet writes on “Scientific Kite-fiying,” with special reference to the experiments at the Blue Hill Observatory, near Milton, Mass. Lieutenant H. D. Wise, U. S. A., makes & rec- ord of bis own experiments on Governors Island, including an account of his ascent— the first in America and the most notable yet made. Willlam A. Eddy writes of “‘Photo- giving an account also of his experiments in telephoning and tele- gravhing through ines suspended from kites— the first known experiments of the sort." Lieu- tenant-General Schofield contributes the first of his records of unwritten history, his article dealing this month with “‘The Withdrawal of the French From Mexico,” and including an jmportant letter from General Grant to General Sneridan showing the attitude of the United Ststes Government toward the French inva- sion. A supplementary article by the present | Minister of Mexico to the United States, Mr. Romero, tets forth his beliet that the fall of the second empire was closely related to the events described by General Schofield. Affairs in the East are treated in an article on “Crete, the Island of Discord,” by Demetrius Kalopo- thakes, a Greek writer educated in America, now resident in Athens, and in a paper on “The Royal Family of Greece,” by Professor Benjamin Ide Wheeler, late of the Amer- ican School of Athens, who writes from per- sonal scquaintance with King George and the Greek Princes. Taere 1s an illusirated de- scription by Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer of A Suburban Country Place,” the residence of Professor Charles S. Sargent at Brookline, Mass., and Colonel George E. Waring Jr. writes “Bicycling Through the Dolomites,” General Horace Porter's “Campaigning With Grant”’ deais with the siege of Petersburg, and filchell's novel, “Hugh Wynne,” is now along In the Revolutionary period. LIPPINCOTT’S. The complete novel in the May issue o Lippincott’s is *Jason Hildreth’s ldentity.” 1t 15 a story of unusual originalily and power, turning on an incident which has had pre- cedents in real life—the loss of memory and personal identity; but the plot isso deeply and skillfully laid that the last pages will come a8 & surprise to almost every reader. ‘A Stir Route Case,” by Mary E. Stickney, is a tale of old days in the West, when mail conches were “held up” by a.ents of their owners. Marthy’s Dress,” by Carrie Blake Morgan, s a pathetic and eff:ctive piece of work by ome who mever, in prose or verse, writes otnerwise than weil. Joseph A. Altsheler, in “My Pennsylvan- ian,” deals humorously with a supposed incident of the Revo.utionary War. William Thomson revives old memories of Indian fight- ing “On the Santa Fe Trail.”” In his narratives the savages are always punished and the whites come off safe. Alva Fitzpatrick traces the fortunes of certain “French Pioneers in America,” . e., Nepo.eonic exiles who came to Alabama after the downfall f the empire. It is & curious by-chspter off Southern annals. Mrs. Schuyler Van Rensselaer writes of the “Beginnings of Liberty 1n New York,” ques- tioning some ussertions of S.G. Fisher. “Life in tne Cotton Beiv” is described with fuil knowledge by Francis Albert Doughty, snd “Early Man in America,” a more remote, but not less interesung theme, by Harvey B. Bashore. SCRIBNER’S. Following is the contents page of Scribner’s Magazine for May: *Jobn Ridd and Lorna Doone at Bagworthy Water-Siide,” drawn by William Hathereil; Scenes From Great Nov- els—V; engraved by Florian, “Undergradu- ate Life ai Harvard,” Edward S Martin, «“Memory,” Charles C. Nott Jr. “Harvard College in the Seventies,” Robert Graat. “Golf,” H. J. Whigham, amateur champion of America. “Tne Working of a Bank,” Charles D. Lanier; The Conduct of Great Businesses, fourih paper. “A New Eug- land May Festival,” & story in six pictures. “Soldiers of Fortune,” chapters XII- XIII; Richard Hurding Davis. “The Whirl- wind Road,” Charles Edwin Markham, *Lon- don, as Seen by C. D. Gibson” ; IV, “The Draw- ing-room,” written and illustrated by Mr. Gibson (the fourth of six illustrated papers). “Betwixt Cup and Lip,"” Grace Howard Peirce. “The Story of a Play,” chapters VIII-X, W. D, Howells (to be continued). “‘A May Song,’ Archibald Lampman. FRANK LESLIE'S. America has its custies us well as European countries, and those on the Hudson River have as interesting & story in a way as tho famous bui:dings on the Rhine. John P, Rit- ter tells this story in & liberally illustrated arilcle entitled ‘'Some American Castles, in the May number of Frauk Leslie’s Popular Monthly. The “Fair Maids of Morocco” are pictured and described by Frederick A. Ober, in the sawe number. Another important article is “Japan’s Three Invasions of Kores,” by Telichi Yumagats, a relative of the great Japanese Marquis. It is accompanied by many excellent pen-and-ink drawings of views in Japan and Korea. The attractive series of papers on “American Uni- versities and Colleges” is coniinved with an article on the University of Minnesots, by John Cochrane Sweet. A well-known theoso- phist, Marian F. Gitt, tells in an interesting way *What Theosophy Means.” There are ar- ticles on_‘‘Constantinople’s Streets,’” “The Mythieal Manoa,” *“Cabs and Cabmen,” “Two Arabian Weddings,” ectc., and a number of shortstories, including one by the new and promisiug writer, John J. A’Becket. A new serial story entitled “The Catspaw,” by Fred- erick R. Burton, begins iu this number, and its opening chapters give indications of a stirring and powerful novel, ST. NICHOLAS. The May St. Nicholas cpens with & frontis- piece, “The Maspole Dance,” by C. Relyes, illustrating a poem with the same title by Cor- nelia Walter McClears. *How Cousin Marion Helped” is a story for girls by Alice Balch Ab- bot. Dr. Emily G. Hunt describes an oad pet of some of her young friends in New Jersey, “A White Red Squirrel.” George B.Smith, in a paper entitled -‘General Grant’s White Moun- tain Ride,” tells of & remarkable coach trip made by the President irom the village of Bethlehem to the Profile House. The distance was eleven miles, and the road was rough and mountainous, but there were eight excellent horses attached to the coach, and tbe trip was made in record-bresking time—less than one hour. Frank H. Spearman, in *“A Snifiing Boundary,” describes some of the ireaks of the Missouri, and in particular of one by which a corner of Iowa was cut off from the rest of the State and left high and dry on the western side of the river. Readers of the magazine have been interested in a number of papers on “Historic Dwarfs,” by Mary Shears Roberts. In the present issue Mrs. Roberts relates the romantic story of Casan, & lttle Tartar dwarf who was in the service of thegreat Genghis Knan. “The Fes- tival of Eggs” is a story of life on the Easter Islands, in the South Pacific, written by Charles F. Holder. In “Master Skylark,” John Bennett’s serial, there is given a glimpse of Shakespeare at one of Queer Bess’ festivals on the Thames. “The Last Three Soldiers,” in Mr. Shelton’s serial, find a great treasure, which, owing to their isolated position, they put to novel uses. Frances Courtenay Baylor's story of “Miss Nina Barrow” develops in in- terest. McCLURE'S. The May number of McClure’s Magazine is especially interesting in the matter of por- traits of famous people. ‘In {llustration of & paper by Miss Tarbe.l on the remarkable work of G. C. Cox in photographte portraiture there are truly speaking likenesses ot Donmald G. Mitchell (“lk Marvel”), Walt Whitman, Eleanora Duse, Henry Ward Beecher and others, and a series of life portraits of Daniel Webster exhibit that most august and impres- sive of great men at cluse intervals from middle life to the year of his death, Some of the Webster portraits have never before been published, and all have interesting histories, which are set forth in aotes by Charles Henry Hart. An article that everybody will read with eager interest is Ray Stannard Baker's account of the pursuit and capture of Booth fter his ascassination of Lincoln and of his death and burial. There has been more or Jess written on this subject before, but Mr, Baker is & relative of Colonel L. C. Baker and Lieutenant L. B. Baker, the two men who, as Government detectives, were specially charged with the pursuit and capture and who themselves disposed of Booth's body. The paper is based upon information derivea by the writer directly from them and never | before publishea; and it gives, undoubtedly, the fullest and most accurate account of Booth’s last days and death that has yot ap- peared. After lylng for many years under the stone floot of the old penitentiary at Wash- ington, Booth’s body, Mr. Baker discloses, is now buried in Baltimore. Other features of this number of McClure's are a most in- telligent and comprehensive review of the second administration of Mr. Cleveland, by Carl Schurz: an account of Grant's disheart- ening search for service at the begiuning of the war, by Hamlin Garland; and fiction of the most stirring and romantic quality by Conan Doyle, Robert Louis Stevenson and Rudyard Kipling. Greece will be full ot English-speaking noy- clists at the present rate. Rudyard Kipling has gone there to write for the London Time: Stephen Crane went before him, and Richard Harding Davis is going. Mr. Crane will prob- ably not describe the real battles he sees any better than the imaginary oues that he has written about. HLRE AND THERE. Captain Mahan’s “Life of Neison” has been received in England with an enthusiasm that is described as littie short of frenzy by the English critics. Austin Dobson is preparing a volume of his selected poems, and in 1t will be inciuded the poem written by him for the Johnson col- lection at Oxford. Tolstoi’s “Ivan the Fool” has been drama- tized by Dr. Aruold Eiloart, and will be pub- lished in book form. It has, we believe, had one performance in London. Messrs. Dodd, Mead & Co. will publish Clem- | ent Shorter's Lives of Sir Walter cottand | Lord Byron, in the series of works on English literature in the Vietorian era. B. 0. Flower, recently the editor of The Arenn, has published a prospectus for a new review, It will be “an exponentof the mew political and social uprising.” The late Edmond de Goncourt left important | additions to the famous Journal des Gon- | court. According to his instructions, this supplementary matter is to be published in 1916. Mrs. Flora Annfe Steel has dramatized her famous story, “On the Face of the Waters,” at the request of an eminent London manager. If the play is as successful as the book has been Mrs. Steel need ask nothing more. Plerre Loti, who 1s at present on sctive service on the French warship Javelot, has produced s new book, “Ramuntcho”’—a study of Biscayan landscape and manners. Gaston | Deschamps declares it to be “the true Loti, the Loti of the old manner.” Mark Twain is still living in retirement in England. He can be reached only through his publishers, Chatto & Windus. “My book will s00n be finished,” he wrote a few weeks since to an intimare friend. It will be issued by lus publishers in Hartford. With the idea of making a truly patriotic his.ory of the United States, Professor J. B. | McMaster of the University of Pennsylyania has prepared such & work. It was written at the suggestion of the Grand Army of the Re- public. “My Country, Right or Wrong,” may want adjusting when history has to be written. The Kelmscott Press announces in a circular dated February that the “Sigurd,” which Mr. Morris was keenly anxious about, 18 to be pub- ished. It will not, however, take the sump- tuous form its anthor intended for it. The | edition s to be limited to 160 copies at six | guineas, and six copies on vellum at twenty | guineas. What a chance there will be now for the Em- bassador to the court of St. James to seil his | ; “Pike County Ballads.” The Messrs. Rout- | iedge announce in London Colonel Hay’s “Ballads.” “Little Breeches” will thus ap- pear, but the United States Embassacor does not disfigure himself, even at a Queen’s levee, in smail clothes. A biography of that very remarkable man, Cecil Rhodes, is to be published. Dr. Jameson will contribute reminiscences. Mr. Rhodes' characteristics can be better understood when it is remembered that he has for an objective idea the building of a railrosd from the Cape of Good Hope to Cairo, with, say, 500 miles of British territory on each side of the track. | The funds for the Oliver Goldsmith Memo- | rial Window, to be placed in the church at his uative place, Pallas, County Longford, Ire- land, have been fully subscribed. The ma- jority of the subscribers are Englishmen of letiers. The design sent in by a south of Ire- land firm has been selected. The window is to be placed in the church near “Sweet Auburn.” | A monument to Guy de Maupassant will be | placed in the Parc Morceaux after the closing of the Champs-Elysees Salon, where 1t is ot present exnibited. It is the work of M. Reoul | Verlet, and represents s young woman seated on a circular bench, and leaning against a col- uma on which is placed a bust of Maupassant. In her hand she holds a half-closed book, “Notre Ceur.” The likeness of the bust is | said to be striking. | Tourgueneff’s letters to George Sand are | being prepared for publication. The bulk of | the correspondence runs on questions of literary history and criticism, but the Russian | novelist also sets forth his views on senti- | mental sabjects. His letters to Emile Zola are | shortly to see the light, but it is probable that they will be extensively edited, as the judg- ments they contain on many famous contem- porary men of letters are believed to be most outspoken. According to the English University Exten- sion, a list has been published of what, in their estimation, are the best historical novels. Kingsley’s “Hereward the Wake” is men- tioned as the best picture of the eleventh cen- tury, Scot’s “Ivanhoe” as the best of the twelith, Kingsley’s “Westward Ho!"and Scott’s | “Kenilworth,” are given for the sixteenth, Shorthouse’s “John Iuglesant,” Scot’s “Old Mortality,” and Blackmore’s “Lorna Doone’ for the seventeenth, and Thackeray’s ‘“‘Es. mond” for the elghteenth. There has been some discussion as to whether & great find had or had not been made in & small four-leaf pamphlet whicn some thought was the original issue of Gray’s “Elegy.”” Elmund Gosse writes in the Athengum that the work is only ‘“an ex tremely early piracy of the ‘Elegy.’ probably struck off within a few days of the publication of the first quarto, since it bears several of the familiar stigmata of that edition. But its text 1s wholly without independent value, and we must look at it merely as s litersry curiosity of no intrinsic importance. We all know who it is who quotes the Bible for his own purposes, and also that “any ex- cuse is better than none.” But a New York «drunk and disorderly” in his defense stated that *he obeyed the teachings of the Bible,” and requested the loan of the Bible which was ordinarily used for administering oaths. Without a moment’s hesitation the prisoner turned to Proverbs xxxiand read the sixth and seventh verses to the astonished magis- trate: “Give strong drink unto him that is ready toperish, and wine unto those that be of heavy hearts. Let him drink and forget his poverty, and remember his misery no more.” ‘The magistrate listened and uttered the one word “Discharced.” Hall Caine arrived in London for his annual holiday in Easter week. It may be presnmed, therefore, that he has brought *“The Christian” to a conclusion, says the New York Critic. It is strange how little notice a story attracs daring its serial course; but one energetic critic, who reais every paper on the stalls, sures me that “The Christian” is likely to Pprove more popular and to attract more atten- tion than any of its author's former stories. Itseems that Mr. Caine has collected an im- mense amount of “cony” for this work, which reflects almost every side of London life, and the chapters yet to appear are said o be by far the most striking in the work, The title is in {tself enough to make the fortune of the J book with the circulating Jibraries. | of What to Eat, Minneapolis. LITERARY NOTES. Anthony Hope is writing a new story which is said to have a less fantastic plot tham his recent books. It will probably be called “Born in the Purple.” The American Publishers’ Corporation h issued, from entirely new plates, a paper-cov- ered edition of Jessie Fothergill's notable book “The First Violin,” said to be the best musi- cal novel yet published. The book fs fllus trated with a sixteen full-page balf-tone en- gravings. Captain Mahan’s new work ‘‘The Life of Nelson,” just published by Little, Brown & Co., has been heartily received in America and in England, and the first edition of 5000 copies was exhausted before publication. The author is at present staying in Boston, being engaged in delivering a series of lectures on “Naval Warfare” in the Lowell Institute course. Among the forthcoming works tobe pub- lished by Little, Brown & Co. is & new histori- cal romunce by George R. R. Rivers, author of “The Governor’s Garden,” entitled ‘‘Captain Shay, a Popu.ist of 1786.” The scenes of the story are chiefly laid in Boston and Peters- ham, Mass., and the motive is the discontent of the farmers and the noied “Snay’s Rebel- lion” which arose from it. At this time when polar expeditions as well a8 new plans or schemes for reaching the pole are subjects of much interest, Herbert D. Ward's popular story, “‘A Dash to the Pole,” issued by the American Publishers’ Corpor- | ation, will find many more delighted readers. The book is liberally illustrated and bas a fulle page picture of the Aeropole (: irsnip), which, in the story, reaches its destination. Literary men and_especially journalists will | appreciate the new Year Book wh ch the Mac- millan Company anuounces. We say new, since it is the first issue in a new form thor- oughly remodeled and a great improvement upon the earlier editions, althoush it retains its original title, “Who's Who?” Formerly a little more than a collection of tables of the Peerage, with the army, navy and law lists and various political tables, it is in its en- larged form a biographical dictionary of liv- ing celebrities and especially those who are prominent in literature, arts and sciences. Of the brief notices the vast majority are sufo- biographical and the information thus placed 0 conveniently in the hands of the public in “Who's Who?” 1897, is simply invaluable. A good move is announced by the publishers From and after July 1 the magazine will print no advertise- ments of food or driuk except such as are of ap- proved merit and value in their especial lines, If any erticle of food is impure it wiil not be ad- vertised in this magazine at any price. 1f any beverage or preparation, medical or otherwise, is not wiaat it pretends o be, it will gain no ad- mission to the columns of What to Eat. The publishers are determined to enforce this rule so rigoronsly that the appearance of an ad in What to Eat will be a guarantee of the purity and meritof the article advertised, and while it will cost a good deal to enforce this regula- tion, they believe in the end 1t will pay them, as well as benefit the public. Lieutenant-General John M.Schofleld will contribute to the Century for May a chapter of secret history entitled “The Withdrawal of the French from Mexico.” It was intended by the United States Government that Geueral Schofield should take charge of volunteer troops to drive the French out of Mexico, but afterward he was sent on a confidential mis- | sion to Paris to induce Emperor Napoleon to order a peaceful withdrawal. General Scho- fleld will give & hitherto unpublished letter from General Grant to General Sherman, then in command of the military division of the gult, showirg to what exiremes the Govern- ment was willing to §0 10 accomplish its pur- pose. In & supp ementary article Mr. Romero, the Mexican Minister to the United States, will give his view of the relation between the withdrawal of the French and the fall of the Second Empire. A peculiarly delightiul book of travel and sightseeing has been written by Mr. John A. Logan Jr., whose “In Joyful Russia’ describes the splendid coremonies at_the coronation of the Czar, and also pictures Russian soclal life in town and country. Mr. Logan’s credentials gave him special facilities for seeing every- thing best worth seing. He has not dealt with questions of politics. He does mot follow other writers in treating of resources, topography or educational and governmental themes. He describo the® greatest fete of the century, perhaps of bistory, and in & frank and entertaining way he tells his readers of the Russians sna their homes as they appear under such condi- tions. The methods of amusement, and the characteristics of life in Moscow and in the country, are set forth with a freshness and vividuess which {mpart to his work a paculiar charm. The book contains fifty fllustrations, includ'ng some in colors. These pictures cover a wide range of subjects, and they will prove a valuable addition to tne book, which will be published immediately by D. Appleton & Co. «“Plasmocytes” s the title of the last book issued by the Academy of Sciences. Of course, the average person does not know whata plas- mocy te i#, 50 it will be nccessary to state that the work is by Dr. Eisen and that it is an ex- haustive explanation of his great discovery in regard to the independence of centrosome in animal cells. An account of this great discovery was pub- lished exclusively in THE CALL about & year ago, but, of course, the limited space that could be given to it permitted only of & gen- eraloutline. The book just issued is most ex- | haustive and contains two page lithograpns from Dr. Kisen's original water-color draw- ing. This work was donme in Frankiort-on- Main and is of the highest order. Since Dr. Eisen made his discovery in regard to the independence of the centrosome his subsequent investigations have only strengthe ened his theory 5o that the discovery must be regarded as the greatest biolozical work of the century. Messrs. Frederick Warne & Co., New York, have commenced the publication of an en- tirely new work on flowers called ‘‘Favorite Flowers of Garden and Greenhouse,” edited by Edward Step, F.L.S. (author of *‘Wayside and Woodland Blossoms”); the cultural directions edited by William Watson, F.R.H.S., assist. ant curator, Royal Gardens, Kew. The com- plete work will be issued in four volumes—of which volume Iwill be ready immediately— and the entire work will be fllustrated with upward of 316 colored plates printed in the finest style of workmanship, from designs drawn and colored with minute care from living plans, showing their natural size; de- tails of seed, seedling, root. leaf, blossom and section, being often inciuded. The letterpress of the complete work will consist of about 700 pages of descriptive matter, indexes, etc. This high-class work will be completed in four volumes, and will cover almost entirely new ground. The text has been written primarily for the garden lover and amateur, although the professional gardener will find much to interest him,